12 December 2023
+VIDEO Fed up with pre-Christmas schmaltzy television already? Here’s something to look forward to: Masters of the Air, a nine episode series from Apple TV+ coming in the New Year.
The TV/internet series brings back together Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman who also produced two acclaimed WWII mini-series, Band of Brothers (US Army in Europe) and The Pacific (US Navy in the Pacific).
Masters of the Air, according to Apple, “is an action-packed drama that follows the true story of an American bomber group in World War II”.
The series will premiere on Apple TV+ with two episodes on 26 January 2024, followed by one new episode every Friday through to 15 March 2024.
“Masters of the Air is a salute to the brave men of the 8th Air Force, who, through their courage and brotherhood, helped defeat Nazi Germany in World War II,” said executive producer Gary Goetzman.
“Tom and Steven have always wanted to visualize cinematically what our author Don Miller has called, this ‘singular event in the history of warfare.’ We’re thrilled that Apple TV+ has given us the opportunity to combine the efforts of so many talented people, on-screen and behind the camera, to tell this important story.”
The TV series follows the 100th Bomb Group who were based at Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk
It’s based on Donald L Miller’s book of the same name. It follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the ‘Bloody Hundredth’) as they fly bombing raids over Nazi Germany and face frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of combat.
The locations include ‘bucolic’ fields and villages of southeast England, and the rather harsher conditions in a German prisoner-of-war camp.
The 100th Bomb Group’s base was near Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk, where there’s a memorial museum.
